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Broken Background Checks Won't Stop Gun Violence

April 10th, 2013

Chris W. Cox

Editorial in U.S. News & World Report

Members of Congress should reject the idea that expanding a broken
background check system will make anyone safer. The American people
deserve better than politicians who continue to pursue failed policy
agendas. Americans deserve to be safe in their communities and to have
their Second Amendment rights respected. We can achieve both.

Congress should support the NICS Reporting Improvement Act of 2013,
introduced by Senators Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., and Mark Begich,
D-Alaska. This bill, unlike the false notion of "universal background
checks," will improve the current national instant background check
system (NICS) by improving the records within it.

We know that NICS needs improvement. The Graham-Begich bill helps fix
NICS by clearly spelling out the definition of who is a danger to
themselves or others and should not have access to firearms, while
protecting the rights of law abiding citizens. In particular, America's
veterans should not be deprived of their Second Amendment rights based
on a purely administrative finding that they need assistance in managing
their financial affairs.

The bill also takes the important step of establishing clear
circumstances for the reinstatement of gun ownership rights through
judicial action or administrative processes at the federal or state
level. If a person is still under any mandatory treatment for a mental
disorder that makes him a danger to himself or others, the person would
still be prohibited from possessing firearms.

Currently, 23 states submit little or no information on mental health
adjudications into NICS. To address this inadequacy, Congress should
continue working to improve the background check system by strengthening
incentives for states to transmit these records. In addition, it should
take steps to address our broken mental health system, ensure that
violent criminals are prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law and
protect our children by improving school security.

The Graham-Begich bill is a step in the right direction towards
fixing some of the deficiencies within NICS. Expanding NICS to include
millions of additional law-abiding citizens without addressing
fundamental problems in the current system will not.